Lost in a Surreal World

  This morning's sun was completely blocked by a thick blanket of fog.  A total whiteout of calm had taken over the Bayou after the severe weather that had ravaged the area last night. Once again, high winds, hail and torrential rains pelted the Little Bayou House but, once again, it held strong and kept us safe.  The fog brought with it peace.

  The morning hike served as a good time to reflect on things as nothing could be seen further than about twenty feet ahead.  The footsteps were soft on the wet leaves and drips could be heard echoing through the woods.  Once on the pier, things felt strange.  Calls from mergansers and geese were the only things that broke the stillness.  The damp air over the Bay proved to be too much for my light jacket so I headed back to the woods.  There, the overhanging branches provided at least some shelter.

  It was here that I found spiderwebs suspended between the branches of many of the low lying branches. As usual, the simplest things enthrall me.  Each web was strung with droplets of water that had accumulated overnight.  These droplets sparkled like jewels even in the low light beneath the canopy of tree limbs.  The strength of the thin webs was remarkable.  Even with dozens and dozens of droplets on a strand, the web held.  Yet, with the whisper of a breeze or the gentlest of touch, the droplets would shower down to the ground like pearls from a broken necklace.  The web held yet the jewels fell and were broken into a thousand pieces. I was in deep thought about the spiderwebs when the sudden bark of a coyote sent my thoughts whirling back into reality.  Time to head back closer to the house.

 

 

The New Home!

Between my house and my brother's house there is a new house being constructed. It is a multi-level home and the dwelling has pine siding. From what I can see (without appearing to be too nosy!) it is going to be quite a cozy home. My new neighbors and I are actually old friends. They come to eat quite often and I wonder if this had some bearing on their choice of building sites. Not that this would bother me..they always appreciate the meal and actually "sing for their supper"! I do appreciate their efforts to entertain me but just between you, me and the fencepost..their singing sounds a lot more like a squeaky rubber ducky that any aria at the opera. Still, I welcome them with open arms and will be more than willing to cater a few meals for them. I guess I will be at their beck and call now that they are so near.

These friends are a pair of Brown-headed Nuthatches. They have chosen a dead pine stump as a nesting site and have been quite the busy little things excavating the woodpecker hole and lining it with grasses and mosses. They will make trips to the feeders..eat a bit.. hunt for building material and then disappear into the hole. This process is repeated over and over again during the day as they work at homebuilding. I came across the nest purely by accident. My brother had given me a lot of two inch flower pots which I toted home in a large bucket. An old pine stump was off to one side of the path and as I neared it, a tiny bird fluttered out of a hole in the upper part of the stump. I did not think too much about it but then another came out, flew to the nearby Black Gum tree and started scolding me. It then dawned on me that I was intruding on their territory. I eased away to give them space and sure enough, one flew back to the stump. I watched for a few minutes and the other tiny Nuthatch soon returned as well. I am glad that I did not disrupt their nestbuilding for long. Perhaps soon, there will be a nest full of the little Nuthatches!

As I left the birds to finish their work, I sat and pondered the strength of a spiderweb. Earlier in the morning, I had taken pictures of two spiderwebs that were laden with beads of fog. Now these were not the fine misty type droplets but were quite large. There were many, many droplets on each strand but still the webs held. These truly did appear to be jeweled necklaces..amazing.